Workers pour concrete into a transmission line trench and place caution tape into place for an underground electrical line. (Credit: Washington State Department of Transportation / Flickr Creative Commons) Listen […]Read More
This undated file photo provided by the National Park Service shows a grizzly bear walking along a ridge in Montana. (Credit: National Parks Service) Listen (Runtime 1:15) Read Neary 150 […]Read More
Crews made progress over the weekend on the Eagle Bluff fire burning in Okanogan County. The fire was 80 percent contained on Monday and crews said there has not been new growth for 48 hours. Read More
n incendio forestal en el condado de Okanogan, cerca de Oroville, en el noreste de Washington, está activo y cubre una amplia zona a través de la frontera entre EE.UU. y Canadá. Los niveles de evacuación se redujeron al nivel 2 en el condado de Okanogan.Read More
A wildfire in Okanogan County, near Oroville, in Northeast Washington is active and covers a large area across the U.S/Canadian border. Evacuation levels were reduced to level 2 in Okanogan County.Read More
Farmworkers’ families in Central Washington need more smoke safety information, accessible childcare, and other resources to be prepared for future smoke events. Those are the results of a recent study where researchers asked parents how they cope with wildfire seasons. Read More
This year in north-central Washington has echoes of 2015, when the complex of fires across Okanogan County burned tens of thousands of acres on the reservation, closer to Omak, and shut down Highway 155 across the reservation for long stretches. What was true then is very possible now: The fires took out a lot of timber that the tribes harvest and use for revenue. Read More
Rural America has been the site COVID hotspots this year: prisons, nursing homes and meat packers. But there are few doctors, ICU beds and little backup when health care workers also get sick. Ken Roberts died Nov. 29, just one person among many who died in an outbreak of COVID-19 at North Valley Extended Care in the Okanogan County town of Tonasket — population about Read More
Some of the hardest hit places have been long-term care facilities in rural areas like Tonasket in Okanogan County, and in central Washington. At least three care facilities in Grant County have reported outbreaks and deaths since a large wedding near Ritzville last month attended by some care facility staff who later tested positive for COVID-19. But a definitive Read More
The county health department said Monday night that North Valley Extended Care in Tonasket has recorded 11 deaths. That number includes 32 total residents who have contracted COVID-19. Health officials did not disclose a time frame for the cases and deaths. Two staff members there are hospitalized, according to the health department.Read More
The Enloe Dam, built 100 years ago, blocks fish from reaching the Similkameen River and is of no use to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation wanting to bring salmon back to the river.Read More
At around 18,000 members, the Okanogan Highlands Fire Watch group continues to provide what members call valuable and lifesaving information. People post evacuation notices, fire maps and recovery resources throughout fire season. Daniel Pratt started the group in 2015 during another particularly bad fire season for Okanogan County.Read More
In Washington, bringing a home-grown apple from west to east is a misdemeanor. There are road signs and posters. The penalty can cost 90 days in jail. But the Washington Department of Agriculture has never enforced the law. Sources at the department say it’s more about education.Read More
The first part of a project that covers the most dangerous section of Highway 97 near Tonasket, Washington, is finished. It’s expected to prevent more than 100 collisions each year in just one mile in the Okanogan Valley. The 13-miles stretch from Tonasket to Riverside sees nearly 350 deer-car collisions per year.Read More
Crews have fought fire with fire to help secure the containment lines. One method you may not have heard of uses ping pong balls and helicopters. They’re officially called PSDs, or plastic spherical devices.Read More
The fire grew fast when it first started Tuesday, Aug. 18, quickly becoming the top priority in the state. Fire managers said Sunday night they were really pleased with the progress. Crews did burnout operations over the weekend, a method of basically fighting fire with fire.Read More
Firefighters are working to contain a large fire in north-central Washington. So far, the Palmer Fire has burned at least 6,000 acres and forced evacuations as winds pushed flames forward. It’s expected to grow, pushing north toward the Canadian border, in the coming days.Read More
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee declared a statewide emergency Wednesday to help with fires burning in on the Olympic Peninsula and in central and eastern Washington. Read More
Many of the county’s cases have spread in the small town of Brewster, where there is a large tree-fruit growing, packing and shipping industry. According to public health officials, there have been 885 positive cases in Okanogan County –– 518 in Brewster.Read More
Eight people, at least two of them foreign H-2A farmworkers, have died in the county. Health officials say cases are climbing quickly with nearly 300 confirmed over the last two weeks alone. The county has seen about 800 total cases during the pandemic. Many of the recent cases are in the small town of Brewster, home to a large tree-fruit growing, packing and shipping industry.Read More
In response to growing fire potential and high temperatures nearing and surpassing 100 degrees, on Tuesday state public lands commissioner Hillary Franz issued a statewide burn ban The order took effect July 28 and lasts through September 30, unless fire conditions improve. Read More
Online misinformation is fueling a backlash in some places against coronavirus containment strategies such as contact tracing and isolation. Some health officials have even received violent threats.Read More
Photos circulating on social media showed cars lining streets of downtown Winthrop and along roads on the Interstate 90 corridor. The concern is that people can bring the coronavirus into these small towns that have fewer medical resources already available.Read More
A former police officer in Okanogan County town of Tonasket will receive $80,000, after he alleged the mayor told him his name sounded “too Hispanic.” Jose Perez, who was one of three people in the town’s police department, took his allegations to the Tonasket City Council in January 2019, where he described what he said Mayor Dennis Brown told him.Read More
Communication is key in emergencies. That’s especially true when the people you’re working to protect don’t speak English. That’s why Washington emergency management offices are working on their language skills — whether for a fire, earthquake or any emergency.Read More
Maria del Rayo Mendoza Garcia was arrested in March this year for allegedly committing a misdemeanor assault, according to the lawsuit. She was detained pending arraignment in front of a judge. But before that could happen, Mendoza’s status as an undocumented woman caught the eye of federal immigration authorities. Read More
Around 450 people filed into the AgriComplex building at the Okanogan County Fairgrounds Monday night. They wanted to voice their opinions on a draft plan to relocate grizzlies to the North Cascades.Read More
Christian Johnson, 55, had been flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after suffering burns over more than half of his body fighting the Spring Coulee Fire on Sept. 1. Read More
Christian Johnson was severely burned while helping put out a Labor Day weekend brush is still in critical condition. Doctors said the recovery process will take several months.Read More
A Washington firefighter was badly burned over the Labor Day weekend while fighting a small brush fire in Okanogan County. He’s currently in a medically induced coma at a Seattle hospital.Read More
Five years later, the Carlton Complex is still the single largest fire in Washington state’s history. By the end of summer, the Okanogan Long Term Recovery Group will have rebuilt 39 homes. The group’s contractors are putting the finishing touches on the final two homes now. They’ve held a ribbon cutting at nearly each spot.Read More
State and federal agencies throughout the Northwest are starting to lift burn restrictions on some lands. The Wildfire Preparedness level for the region was downgraded to its lowest stage -- Level 1 -- this week. But the region is below normal for precipitation and has been so for the past two months. Read More
Thanks to quick thinking, a tree and a helicopter, a salmon researcher in Washington was able to evade two wolves she couldn’t scare off.Read More
The Okanogan River has receded from its emergency flood stage seen for several weeks in May. Left behind are the memories and high-water marks of floods and natural disasters past.Read More
A week ago, forecasters were predicting the Okanogan River might crest this weekend near a record flood mark set back in 1972. Now, emergency managers are moving into “defense mode” and are now predicting somewhat lower water levels.Read More
Conditions in Okanogan and Ferry counties have moved to a major flood state, where Governor Jay Inslee has declared an emergency. The Okanogan River is expected to continue rising through the weekend and through the following week to a level not reached since the historic flood of 1972. Read More
Emergency management officials are trying to protect drinking water systems throughout the Okanogan Valley from flood water contamination.Read More
The combination of a near-record snowpack in southern British Columbia and temperatures soaring into the upper 80s has caused flood watches starting at the U.S.-Canada border running south along the Okanogan River. Correspondent Emily Schwing is on the scene and sent back these photos.Read More
It’s a record year for flooding in northeastern Washington as spring runoff makes its way into rivers. At least eight are at or above flood stage. Nearly all of them cross the U.S.-Canada border.Read More
In January 2018, around 100 homes were destroyed by mudslides in Montecito, California. The same conditions that brought that destruction could exist here in the Northwest – after all, we’ve had the same kinds of wildfires that California saw in December.Read More
